"The Five Senses" is unusual. Most low-budget character studies tend to
be narratively simple and/or so artful as to be inaccessible. "Senses,"
however, is warm and accessible, with plot threads that are
meticulously interwoven yet easy to follow.

The film is set in contemporary Toronto, where all of the characters
are dealing with some issue relating to one of the five physical
senses. Eye doctor Richard (Philippe Volter), an opera fan who so loves
sound that he plays tapes of the ocean – complete with gulls and buoys
– in his office, dreads his impending loss of hearing. Masseuse Ruth
(Gabrielle Rose) is a genius at literally handling her clients, but is
out of touch with the needs and anxieties of her teenaged daughter
Rachel (Nadia Litz), a budding voyeur. Rona (Mary-Louise Parker) is a
cake decorator who creates pastries that are beautiful but tasteless,
while her best friend Robert (Daniel MacIvor) believes that true love
is something that can be smelled.

Writer/director Jeremy Podeswa consistently beguiles us with his
affection for his characters and his surprising but plausible story
twists. The people he presents to us are often unconventional but all
ultimately have a measure of self-awareness. The filmmaker also avoids
the common trap of using unreasonable tragedy as a means of getting a
rise out of the audience; he earns his effects honestly.

Sound reproduction is lovely, although the soft-spoken characters’
voices sometimes tend to sink in the center channel. Ambient sound
effects, however, are terrific. In Chapter 2, after a classical music
piece spreads smoothly through the speaker field, we look up as a door
opens in the left main. Chapter 3 does something interesting with an
overseas phone call – the person talking onscreen is loud and clear on
the center channel, while her unseen friend comes, crackling and faint,
through the front and right mains. Sound effects like rain and traffic
reside unobtrusively in the rears, creating environmental depth without
drawing undue attention. In Chapter 5, the recording is so precise that
we can actually hear the rustle of clothing as characters move through
a room, and in Chapter 6, the buzzing of a fly is so authentic that
viewers may initially think they’ve got a real-life bug problem.

Visually, "The Five Senses" tends to be dark. The transfer from film is
very faithful – the big-screen version was full of points of light
drawing focus in shadowy environments, and the digital edition
preserves this. Podeswa and cinematographer Gregory Middleton have a
fondness for dimly-lit, object-filled rooms, creating images that are
like dreams and old photographs, At times, the film subtly appears to
hint that we are recalling glimpses of our own memories. Podeswa
invites us to imagine what’s beyond the range of the camera, suggesting
tangible sensations waiting just out of sight. However, the various
entwined plot strands are never sacrificed to ambience.

The idea of dramatizing the title elements of "The Five Senses" may
sound like a conceit, but Podeswa makes it work in a film that fulfills
the mandate of its premise in ways that are intelligent and touching.